Argentina takes voting very seriously. I suppose having a dictatorship in your recent past and thus not being able to vote is the impetus of not taking that freedom for granted. In fact, it's mandatory that all citizen from age 19-70 vote. If they don't, they can be fined (a very small fine and I'm not sure how well it's inforced.) On Saturday, the day before the election, grocery stores stopped selling alcohol at 8pm. (This gives you enough time to sober up when the poles open.) All bars, restaurants, cinemas....etc closed at midnight Saturday. Perhaps voting is like test taking, you do better when you've had a good night sleep! I wonder who voting would change in American if voting was mandatory?
In other news, Saturday I left my host family and moved into an apartment one neighborhood over. It's a decent place, fairly spartan, quiet and very cheap. I have two roommates, one is Flemish and he's in business school, the other is American and she's in cooking school. (Although she moves out on Thursday.) Today I explored the parks nearby, scouting out potential running routes. To my surprise, I came across a mini statue of liberty. How's that for election day! I also met up with some friends of Mark (Stephanie's fiance) who were in Buenos Aires for about 30 hours. That's definitely not enough time for this city, but I was very glad they made time for me!
3 comments:
My first thought on hearing of the Argentinian election was that I hope she is blazing the way for another ex-First Lady. Keep blogging, it's great! Jane
This is the first time I got a link to your blog and I had a fascinating time reading it back to the beginning of your trip in Ireland to now-present in Argentina. You are such a great storyteller. Keep the stories coming :-)
PS I had also been following up with the presidential election and that is just fantastic that the women's movement has changed into a new direction for the future and now women are ruling countries instead of men. It's about time. Women are just capable of running a country just like men given they are good at what they do.
I agree with Jane. Bring on the female presidents in the States.
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